365 Days Too Late
by Dark Mage 13-2
Summary: "Who are you talking to? Me? Or Sora?" "To half of Sora of course." In the end, he knew had to give it all up. Character study of Roxas in his 'final moments.'


**_Warning: Heavy, emotional, feels-hitting stuff ahead. You have been warned._**

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><p>"Who are you talking to? Me? Or Sora?" <em>'I am not him,'<em> he thought to himself. The room is white and endless. The center of it all is a large, white pod holding the key that connects everything. In front of said pod is the man who is only using him as a tool of revenge.

The man in red gave his derogatory answer, "To half of Sora, of course. You reside in darkness. What I need is someone who can move about the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII."

He remembers Organization XIII, all the lies they told him. Axel had lied to him on multiple occasions. Xemnas would give vague answers to him about Sora. He now realized who Sora is, what his ties to him are. Why is it always Sora? _Sora…Sora…_

"Why? Who are you?" he asked. _'I have a right to know. Why I am here, why I was living a fake life.'_

"I am a servant of the world," the man responded. He laughed before continuing, "And if I'm a servant, then you should consider yourself a tool, at best."

His jaw and fist clenched in boiling anger. _'I am no one's pawn!'_ How ironic for him to think of such a thought, when he was a pawn in the hand of Lord Xemnas. He is a puppet, naïve and lacking life. "Was that..." he spat out, trying to form coherent words. "Was that supposed to be a joke?" the Keyblade on instinct, appeared in his right hand. This man was going to pay. "'Cause I'm not laughing!"

The teen sprinted towards the man, striking him with the Keyblade, but it went right through, leaving the man unharmed. He stood up straight, clenching the Keyblade tightly.

"My apologies. This is only a data-based projection," the man simply explained.

He had snapped. Anger took over. _'I am not a pawn. I am not playing anyone's game!'_ He screamed and viciously attacked the hologram. _'I want my life back! I am not Sora!'_ Growing tired, he swung the Keyblade down on the hologram one final time. The hologram disappeared completely. He huffed for air, the same mantra repeating over and over in his thoughts. _'My true name is Roxas. My true name is Roxas. My true name is…'_

The hologram of the man in red appeared a few feet away from him. "Come, over here,"

That moment, he realized what Naminé was trying to warn him about. This man removed his memory, led him to lead a fake life, only to be forced to give it all up. This man was doing this to him. He absolutely refuses to fade. With a fierce glare, the teen spat out words laced with fury. "I hate you so much..."

"You should share some of that hatred with Sora. He's far too nice for his own good,"

He couldn't take any more of those cold-hearted words. "No! My heart belongs to me!" he declared. He ran towards the hologram, cutting through it and causing it to disappear. The pod opened before him, showing who was contained within.

_'After all this time, I never thought I would see him in person,'_ he thought. "Sora..." If he, a former member of the Organization couldn't stop them, then at least he could help the one who can. This is his fate. He felt his heartless existence fading away. He looked at his hand, now translucent. Looking away from his hand to Sora, he gave his last few words, "You're lucky. Looks like my summer vacation is...over."

Roxas did not know the biggest lie Xemnas has told him: Nobodies do not have hearts. That was a lie that he knew throughout his existence, and all it did was ruin all 365 days he had.

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><p>A character(ish) study of Roxas. Written for jjj6's challenge on DA<br>I really hit the feels on this one.

Challenge was to recreate my favorite scene/moment from any of the KH games. Of course you're probably thinking "Out of all the moments you could've picked, you had to pick Roxas' death?"

Bear in mind I'm a very weird thinker. I had taken into consideration many scenes in KH that I liked. Scenes that were considered were: Sora's sacrifice for Kairi, KH2 ending, Re:coded Ending, Aqua sacrificing herself for Terra, even Riku turning into Xehanort's Heartless just to defeat Roxas was considered.

But I chose this scene for a reason. There are so many things I like about it, despite it's tragic(ness). Roxas is a complex character. For the last third of Days all he wanted was to meet Sora and hopefully fix his life based on many lies, including the biggest one told by Xemnas just to get an army of Xehanort vessels. But in end, he has to give up his life in order to get it back, and he may never be free-willed again. He had selfish desires, but in the end he had to let them go. This scene shows the completion of his character development, and even really shows the true nature of Nobodies. Roxas having a great and wide emotional range shows there's something he has that he and other Nobodies have desired. To me, Roxas is the real hero of Kingdom Hearts II. Without his sacrifice, Sora would not have been able to defeat Xemnas.

Please read and review.


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